Tripura CM warns UPA govt on policy issues

Agartala, Jun 22: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has flayed the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre with regard to economic policy and civil nuclear deal with the US.

Addressing a public gathering here last evening, Mr Sarkar held the defective economic approaches of the UPA government responsible for the high rate of inflation in country and said India had witnessed 11.5 per cent inflation after 13 years.

He, however, claimed that the Left parties were supporting the government on Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which dealt with the socio-economic uplift of backward classes in the society and safeguarding the integrity and sovereignty of the nation but the recent attitude of the government had gone beyond all social commitments.

Mr Sarkar, a senior member of CPI(M) Politburo, accused the UPA government of ''promoting a bad nuclear deal'' backed by ''mythical energy claims'' with the ''real intent'' of strengthening India-US strategic ties and warned that the Manmohan Singh government was ''dragging its feet'' on promoting the Iran gas pipeline project due to the US.

''The Congress leadership and UPA Cabinet are propagating that the Indo-US Nuclear Deal is absolutely essential for India's energy security and a massive disinformation campaign has been mounted that nuclear energy is a solution not only to the shortage of electricity in the country but also an answer to the oil price rise,'' Mr Sarkar said.

He also alleged that the Centre had generated artificial uranium shortage just to push a deal.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the Centre had become too much dependent on US economic policy and as a result, private investment from foreign companies was encouraged and poverty alleviation measures had also not been properly implemented in the country.